Israeli Occupation Forces Kidnap 13 Palestinians, Bulldoze  Electricity Poles in Al-Tuwani, Farmland in Beit Lahiya

Israeli Occupation Forces Kidnap 13 Palestinians Overnight

Published today (updated) 04/08/2009 11:20

 Bethlehem – Ma’an/Agencies –

Israeli occupation soldiers kidnapped 13 Palestinians from their West Bank homes during overnight raids, according to Israeli figures.

Five Palestinians were taken from the Qalqilya area, four from the Ramallah area, two from the Hebron area, and two others near Jericho.

The previous night Israel said it detained 14 Palestinians in the nightly raids. In one such incursion, a force of 200 soldiers attacked the village of Bil’in, near Ramallah, seizing six Palestinians and one American activist. The village holds weekly demonstrations against the Israeli separation wall.

Israeli occupation army kidnaps 13 Palestinians from the West Bank

Tuesday August 04, 2009 13:39 by Katherine Orwell - 1 of International Middle East Media Center Editorial Group

13 Palestinians from different areas of the West Bank were taken from their homes by the Israeli occupation army, during pre-dawn invasions on Tuesday.

Night time round up of Palestinian men by Israeli occupation soldiers in Hebron - Photo by Christian Peacemaker Team

Five Palestinians were taken from the area of Qalqilya, four from the Bethlehem area, two men from the Hebron area and another two from around Jericho.

IOF soldiers bulldoze Palestinian farmlands

[ 04/08/2009 - 10:00 AM ]

BEIT LAHIA, (PIC)--

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) afternoon Monday advanced into northern Gaza Strip and bulldozed Palestinian farmland in Beit Lahia town, security sources said.

They told PIC reporter that the IOF soldiers backed by five tanks escorted two bulldozers few hundred meters to the northeast of Beit Lahia.

The invading forces opened indiscriminate fire as the bulldozers damaged the cultivated land lots.

In the West Bank, Jewish settlers uprooted 30 olive trees in Khader town south of Bethlehem on Monday.

Locals said that villagers, who tried to defend their land, were suppressed by IOF troops who used force to disperse them.

In Al-Khalil, IOF soldiers kidnapped a young Palestinian man near the gates leading to the Ibrahimi Mosque after claiming that he had a knife in his possession.

In an unrelated development, the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) on Monday night released two Hamas leaders in the West Bank Shaikh Hussain Abu Kuwaik, 52, and Farraj Abu Rummane, 37, after 19 months of administrative detention, without trial or charge.

Abu Kuwaik spent 12 years in IOA detention on different jail terms and survived an IOF assassination attempt in 2002 during which his wife and four of his sons were killed.

Israeli bulldozers roll into Al-Tuwani village near Hebron, set to remove electricity poles

Tuesday August 04, 2009 10:02 by George Rishmawi - IMEMC News

Israeli bulldozers accompanied by military vehicles invade Al-Tuwani  village near Hebron, Tuesday morning.  Israeli occupation soldiers said they want to remove  poles set to be used for electricity, International peace activists from the Christian Peacemaker Teams  (CPT) told IMEMC over the phone.

According to CPT, the poles are part of the infrastructure for a project to supply the village with electricity, a service promised to the villagers by the Quartet envoy Tony Blair, during his visit to the village last March.

During the visit, Blair said that the reason of his visit “is really to draw attention to the fact that without a new and different system applying in Area C [the area in the West Bank under Israeli military and civilian control according to the Oslo accords], then it is very hard for Palestinians to enjoy the standard of living that they should to develop their land as they need to live in freedom.”, the CPT reported.

The villagers in the southern hills of Hebron face regular settler and  army harassment in an attempt to force them leave their villages to  expand Israeli settlements in that area. The villagers, with some international and Israeli peace activists,  often organize nonviolent actions to face the Israeli military and  armed settlers.

Three detainees wounded in the Negev detention camp

Tuesday August 04, 2009 10:39 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Palestinian sources reported on Tuesday morning that three Palestinian detainees were wounded on Monday at night and fire that broke out in section 5 at the Israeli Negev detention facility.

Ala’ Sammar, representative of Fateh detainees at the facility said in a phone interview with the Palestinian News and Information Center (WAFA) that the fire was caused by an electric circuit in some tents causing fires to spread in the tents.

Several detainees were wounded and were moved to an Israeli military hospital. 

Sammar held the Israeli authorities responsible for endangering the lives of the detainees, and added that the Israeli violations, repeated attacks against the detainees, tortutre, and medical negligence policies have claimed the lives of hundreds of detainees since 1967.

There are about 11,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons, the overwhelming majority of them are civilians who have been kidnapped from their homes by Israeli occupation forces for suspicion of being politically active against the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.